Franklin Life (Tennessee)

Williamson County Author Debuts as NY Times Bestseller

By SARA McMANAMY-JOHNSON
Staff Writer

The New York Times Bestseller List, for many writers, represents the pinnacle of literary success. Many writers work for years trying to see their books on that list.

Williamson County’s Ruta Sepetys based the story for Between Shades of Gray on historical events she learned about during a trip to visit relatives in Lithuania. Courtesy Photo

Brentwood author Ruta Sepetys made it there on her first try.

Sepetys’s debut novel Between Shades of Gray, released earlier this year, spent four weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List.

The novel tells the story of a 15-year-old girl in Lithuania who, along with her family, is deported to a Siberian work camp by Joseph Stalin’s soldiers during World War II.

The story holds a personal note for Sepetys, whose father and grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Lithuania when her father was a child.

Sepetys first learned of the deportations – part of an ethnic cleansing effort-during a visit to Lithuania when she met members of her extended family.

“I asked them if they had any old photos of my father or grandfather,” said Sepetys. “They told me that they had burned them all because they couldn’t let anyone know they were related to my grandfather.”

And they began to tell her stories of Stalin’s ethnic cleansing in the Baltic States. Sepetys’s grandfather and father had not just immigrated – they had escaped.

“I was shocked,” said Sepetys, who never knew this part of her family’s history.

After the trip, Sepetys returned to Brentwood, where she mulled over what she had learned.

When she discussed it with her writing group, the Brentwood Writing Group, during their bi-weekly meetings at the Brentwood Public Library, the other members encouraged her to tell the story.

Sepetys painstakingly researched the historical background, returning to Lithuania to interview survivors and family members.

“They told me their stories, but they would say ‘promise never to mention my name,’” said Sepetys. “Fifty years had passed, but the fear was still raw.”

Survivors in the Baltics were forbidden to speak of the deportations for decades – until Soviet control ended in 1990. Doing so could result in immediate imprisonment.

According to Sepetys, she wrote this book to help make more people aware of Stalin’s ethnic cleansing efforts during World War II.

“I chose young adult [as the genre] specifically for Between Shades of Gray because I wanted to get this to teachers and librarians,” said Sepetys.

Already, she has presented her research findings to members of Congress, the Administration, and foreign diplomats at the Lithuanian embassy in Washington D.C.

The novel has by all accounts stirred international attention.

It will soon be available in more than two-dozen countries, and in 17 of those countries, it is being released as a novel for adults.

Sepetys, who owns and operates a small artist-management firm representing musicians, will soon leave for a book tour in Europe.

“Now the tables are really turned,” said Sepetys. “The artists I represent have been saying ‘now you’ll know what it’s like.’”

But she is excited, nonetheless.

“I’m so excited, but most of all, I’m honored to bring this story that has impacted so many millions of people to the world,” said Sepetys. “[To show] the strength and foundation of family.”

Sepetys relates those traits back to her adopted home, Brentwood.

“[Strength and foundation of family] is absolutely the rock here in Brentwood,” said Sepetys. “I often thought of neighbors and friends…What would we do if we were in that situation?”

She realized that those who survived in the Baltics found the strength to do so through love and family.

“That’s what the story is really about,” said Sepetys.

Sepetys will make appearances in the Nashville area in the coming months, beginning with the Ash to Nash Book Tour at the Brentwood Barnes & Noble on August 8 from 6:30 p.m. through 8:30 p.m.

She will also be at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 15 and 16 and at the Edmondson Pike Library Branch in Nashville on December 15.